Moore, Mater Dei too much for Esperanza

Ty Moore had a great season in 2011, when he was named Orange County player of the year.

He might be better this season.

The Mater Dei senior pitched a complete game to improve to 12-1, and singled and scored a run as the Monarchs defeated Esperanza, 5-2, Friday in a CIF-Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal playoff game at Mater Dei.

The Monarchs (25-5) will play Newbury Park (18-6) in one of the Division 1 semifinal games that will be played as a doubleheader Tuesday at Blair Field in Long Beach. Game times are 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The CIF-SS is expected to announce Saturday which of the semifinals -- Mater Dei vs. Newbury Park and Corona vs. West Ranch of Valencia – is the early game and which is the late game.

Mater Dei played in the Blair Field semifinals doubleheader in 2009 and '10, and both years Mater Dei played in the late game.

Mater Dei beat Newbury Park in the Division 1 first round in 2010 when the Monarchs went on to win the division championship.

Esperanza, champion of the Century League, finished 21-9. The Aztecs beat Mater Dei in last season's Division 1 quarterfinals en route to the championship game.

Moore, a UCLA signee, allowed no earned runs, walked two and struck out six. He lowered his ERA to 0.73, and has 71 strikeouts in 67 1/3 innings. Moore is batting .412 with team highs of 40 hits and 23 RBIs.

Mater Dei junior catcher Jeremy Martinez, who doubled in two runs in the Monarchs' five-run third inning, said Moore had a variety of pitching weapons Monday.

"Ty has a great fastball, he knows how to change speeds and he's got a great secondary pitch with his curve ball," Martinez said. "His curve ball is his go-to pitch. He can throw it when the count is 0-0 or 3-0."

Mater Dei coach Burt Call said, "Ty was outstanding. He mixed his pitches well and he worked ahead in counts. He did another great job for us."

The Monarchs batted around in their five-run third inning. In addition to Martinez' two-run double that drove in Austin Grebeck and Austin Monte, McMahon drove in Moore with a sacrifice fly and Ryan Barr's single sent home Davis Tominaga, who had doubled.

Esperanza took advantage of two Mater Dei errors to score a run in the sixth inning, and got its other run on a sacrifice fly by Kevin Viers in the seventh. Esperanza senior first baseman Brad Anderson had two hits.

Also in Division 1:

West Ranch of Valencia 5, Orange Lutheran 4: The top-seeded Lancers (23-5) were eliminated as the host Wildcats (20-8-1) scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to take the lead for good. West Ranch will play Corona, which defeated El Dorado, 7-4.

In Division 2:

Aliso Niguel 10, Valencia 0: The Wolverines (22-11) advanced to the semifinals, where they will play Sea View League rival Trabuco Hills on Tuesday. The home team will be determined by coin flip Saturday. Aliso beat Trabuco twice in their three league games.

Brett Barker pitched five innings to get the victory and improve to 9-1. He also homered, and was one of seven Wolverines who had at least one RBI. Mike Hall drove in two runs.

Trabuco Hills 3, Glendora 2: Trevor Petersen singled and eventually scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the eighth inning for the host Mustangs (17-13). Trabuco starter Kevin Wade pitched seven innings and Kenney Wolf pitched a scoreless eighth to get the victory. Steven Garland went 4 for 4 for the Mustangs.

In Division 6:

Capistrano Valley Christian 6, Sierra Canyon of Chatsworth 1: The host Eagles (23-6) advanced to the semifinals in which they will play St. Margaret's on Tuesday. The home team will be decided by coin flip Saturday. Capistrano Valley Christian had scored 37 runs over its previous two playoff victories.

St. Margaret's 4, Viewpoint of Calabasas 3: Mitch Donahue drove in two runs to lead the visiting Tartans (16-8) to the semifinals. Chaz Williams got the victory in relief to improve to 6-0.